Wednesday, April 20, 2011
"MY TYPE" WISE VEGA FEAT. J.NOTIQ PRODUCED BY THE INCREDIBLE STRO
New Video Umpire Films in the Building
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Pope John Paul of Y'all Niggas
On the 24th of December, 1989; a child's innocence was lost. It had nothing to do with finding out the truth about Santa Clause, because in actuality he never really believed in Santa Clause to begin with. For the rest of the world other than being Christmas Eve, that date probably plays no significant meaning. However, for a group of kids in Mrs. Williams' 6th Grade class and one in particular it was the end of childhood, the day the music died and things would never be the same.
Toussaint Verde was a 12 years old that seemed to be a man in a boys body. He had an old soul and it almost seemed as if he had been here before. The summer of 1989 anther little boy moved to Jamaica Queens and eventually enrolled in P.S. 160 also known as Walter Francis Bishop Elementary School. The name made it seem a lot nicer than it really was. After arriving at the school that was surrounded by gates and burglar bars and security guards with their metal detectors and a play ground with no jungle gyms, only a wall that the children could play hand ball on this new student was in a complete culture shock as the standards and practices of the New York Education system. The first friend he made was the before mentioned Toussaint.
Toussaint was Tupac in a twelve year old body, before Tupac was even Tupac. He had a swagger about him and everybody seemed to gravitate towards him. He dressed, walked and talked the part. The girls loved him, the goons respected him, the younger kids looked up to him like the head of state and all the teachers liked him. What can you say, he was a hood legend he was the Pope John Paul of Walter Francis Bishop Elementary school.
The fact that he stretched his hand out in friendship to this new student, made the transition almost seamless; considering the fact that he was being co-signed for by the coolest dude in school. He didn't catch the hell most new kids catch when they enter a new school at that age, until they make a name for themselves. He was ushered in the cool clique immediately because of an act of kindness. And that maybe why the 24th of December 1989 hit him harder than most.
A handful of men involved in a shootout over a drug deal gone bad, let off shots in one of East New York's most notorious projects. This was the type of neighborhood that gun shots didn't really cause anyone to raise an eyebrow or lose sleep. The assailants fired off recklessly at each other and into the air and everywhere in their attempts to kill their adversaries. The sad part is that they weren't good at selling drugs and they were even worse at shooting, because none of them were even hit in the may lay. However, on the 12 floor of one of the project building sat Toussaint Verde looking out the window and waiting in auntie's apartment to get a hair cut. He was shot by two bullets to the head, slipped into a coma, and would never wake up. The ramifications of his death would be felt for many years after that balmy Christmas Eve.
Childhood was never the same after that; and how could anyone expect it to be. It is a sad day when a child realizes that they do have limitations and they are not invincible. Sometimes you don't have to wait for the next episode, Superman doesn't always make it. It took seven years for me to even sleep by a window again and that was only because the dorm I stayed in at the University of Miami, kind of gave me no choice. Occasionally, I think about him and what he could have or would have been doing if he hadn't gone to Brooklyn that day. His spirit has been with me ever since. It was a biographical essay about him that I used to get into college. And it is his swagger and personality I carry with me everyday, and his act of kindness that makes me want to help those trying to make their way through new or bad or difficult situations. I will certainly never forget him or what he meant to a little boy trying get adjusted in a new school and a new city.
TOUSSAINT VERDE will always be the epitome of cool. That was my dude and I'll always remember him.
Toussaint Verde was a 12 years old that seemed to be a man in a boys body. He had an old soul and it almost seemed as if he had been here before. The summer of 1989 anther little boy moved to Jamaica Queens and eventually enrolled in P.S. 160 also known as Walter Francis Bishop Elementary School. The name made it seem a lot nicer than it really was. After arriving at the school that was surrounded by gates and burglar bars and security guards with their metal detectors and a play ground with no jungle gyms, only a wall that the children could play hand ball on this new student was in a complete culture shock as the standards and practices of the New York Education system. The first friend he made was the before mentioned Toussaint.
Toussaint was Tupac in a twelve year old body, before Tupac was even Tupac. He had a swagger about him and everybody seemed to gravitate towards him. He dressed, walked and talked the part. The girls loved him, the goons respected him, the younger kids looked up to him like the head of state and all the teachers liked him. What can you say, he was a hood legend he was the Pope John Paul of Walter Francis Bishop Elementary school.
The fact that he stretched his hand out in friendship to this new student, made the transition almost seamless; considering the fact that he was being co-signed for by the coolest dude in school. He didn't catch the hell most new kids catch when they enter a new school at that age, until they make a name for themselves. He was ushered in the cool clique immediately because of an act of kindness. And that maybe why the 24th of December 1989 hit him harder than most.
A handful of men involved in a shootout over a drug deal gone bad, let off shots in one of East New York's most notorious projects. This was the type of neighborhood that gun shots didn't really cause anyone to raise an eyebrow or lose sleep. The assailants fired off recklessly at each other and into the air and everywhere in their attempts to kill their adversaries. The sad part is that they weren't good at selling drugs and they were even worse at shooting, because none of them were even hit in the may lay. However, on the 12 floor of one of the project building sat Toussaint Verde looking out the window and waiting in auntie's apartment to get a hair cut. He was shot by two bullets to the head, slipped into a coma, and would never wake up. The ramifications of his death would be felt for many years after that balmy Christmas Eve.
Childhood was never the same after that; and how could anyone expect it to be. It is a sad day when a child realizes that they do have limitations and they are not invincible. Sometimes you don't have to wait for the next episode, Superman doesn't always make it. It took seven years for me to even sleep by a window again and that was only because the dorm I stayed in at the University of Miami, kind of gave me no choice. Occasionally, I think about him and what he could have or would have been doing if he hadn't gone to Brooklyn that day. His spirit has been with me ever since. It was a biographical essay about him that I used to get into college. And it is his swagger and personality I carry with me everyday, and his act of kindness that makes me want to help those trying to make their way through new or bad or difficult situations. I will certainly never forget him or what he meant to a little boy trying get adjusted in a new school and a new city.
TOUSSAINT VERDE will always be the epitome of cool. That was my dude and I'll always remember him.
It's Bigger Than Us 2008
It's bigger than us. And by us I mean the 21-35 generation x kids who grew up watching 106 and Park and TRL and barely can remember when rap music wasn't on MTV. It's bigger than us. Because we didn't have to walk on Washington and we sat in the back of the bus because that's where we wanted to sit, not because we were forced to or have to riot because one of our leaders was assassinated. Since we had no political leaders that related to us, we turned Tupac into our revolutionary and rappers became the voice of a misguided generation that had nothing to hold on to or nothing to look forward to. A man is a dangerous animal when he has nothing to live for.
And with that came the rise of American Gangsters and dope boyz in the trap and drug dealers became local legends and later in their careers music moguls. While single mothers in the hood told little boys and girls you can be anything you want to be, you don't have to be like the rest of them. Drugs and basketball aren't they only way out. And some replied yeah I'm going to be a rapper. And she told you that's not what she meant, you can be president. And I myself was one of those children and looked at her and thought this lady is on that shit, because my name isn't Bill or William, or George or any other presidential name and then I thought; if she wanted me to be president she should have started by giving me the right name to start. Then I also realized none of the presidents looked like me and she was just pumping my head with noise because it sounded good.
But as I said when I started it is bigger than us. This moment in time, while we pivot role in it was not really for us. It is bigger than us. It is for our grandparents that day dream and have nightmares when you mention things like Selma, Willie Lynch, a young Atlanta preacher named after a catholic revolutionary Martin Luther, Montgomery Bus Boycott, Malcom Little aka Malcolm X aka Malik Shabazz. This moment is for then for everything that we took for granted, that they indured. This is their time to rejoice and praise God for the dream that has come to fruition. More importantly this moment is for the next generation, for my two year old son Davin that will never question me when I tell him that he can be anything he wants to be including president and he doesn't have to have a presidential name or presidential background to win. This moment is for my son who is to young to get it yet, because 2am is way past his bed time. This is for our kids that we must realize have far fewer obstacles in front of them than our parents did. Kids who not only play football and basketball, but golf and tennis as well. This is for those who will grow up believing YES WE CAN.
And with that came the rise of American Gangsters and dope boyz in the trap and drug dealers became local legends and later in their careers music moguls. While single mothers in the hood told little boys and girls you can be anything you want to be, you don't have to be like the rest of them. Drugs and basketball aren't they only way out. And some replied yeah I'm going to be a rapper. And she told you that's not what she meant, you can be president. And I myself was one of those children and looked at her and thought this lady is on that shit, because my name isn't Bill or William, or George or any other presidential name and then I thought; if she wanted me to be president she should have started by giving me the right name to start. Then I also realized none of the presidents looked like me and she was just pumping my head with noise because it sounded good.
But as I said when I started it is bigger than us. This moment in time, while we pivot role in it was not really for us. It is bigger than us. It is for our grandparents that day dream and have nightmares when you mention things like Selma, Willie Lynch, a young Atlanta preacher named after a catholic revolutionary Martin Luther, Montgomery Bus Boycott, Malcom Little aka Malcolm X aka Malik Shabazz. This moment is for then for everything that we took for granted, that they indured. This is their time to rejoice and praise God for the dream that has come to fruition. More importantly this moment is for the next generation, for my two year old son Davin that will never question me when I tell him that he can be anything he wants to be including president and he doesn't have to have a presidential name or presidential background to win. This moment is for my son who is to young to get it yet, because 2am is way past his bed time. This is for our kids that we must realize have far fewer obstacles in front of them than our parents did. Kids who not only play football and basketball, but golf and tennis as well. This is for those who will grow up believing YES WE CAN.
Sell Your Dreams
Sell your dreams! Sell your dreams! Sell your dreams! And as odd as that may sound, I besiege you to sell you dreams.
We have all dreamed of doing something great or grandiose, even bigger than life; but usually somewhere along the way someone or something happened that made you think that dream was unattainable. When you were a child you never said, "I want to make $100,000 a year." You said, "I want to be the richest man in the world." Along the way you compromised and decided that you just needed to get to a respectable tax bracket. I beg you, even plead with you to recall those childhood dreams that for so long you thought were unrealistic.
After you remember that dream and take ownership of it, I then ask you to then sell it to whoever will listen, whoever will help facilitate it, whoever you come in contact with. And I realize at this point you may be perplexed and utterly confused about what the hell I'm asking you to do. What I have come to realie is "that all we have is us," and "no man is an island." In layman's terms, we all need each other and to make those aforementioned dreams a reality, you must sell them to others and turn them into full fledged believers, card carrying Kool Aid drinking members.
Everyone who has ever done anything great, or of any magnitude sold their dream to others. Without this act you are dead because a man who has nothing to look forward to has nothing to live for. What do Jesus, Ghandi, Martin Luther, Bill Gates, Oprah, Cornell Sanders and the list go on and on have in common? They all started with a dream, that may have seemed a bit overly ambitious to everyone else, and they all sold that dream to start a movement and turn their belief structure into a reality. It is time to become better salesman.
So your mission today is to:
1. Remember and take ownership of those dreams that you forgot about from childhood.
2. Figure out who can help in your pursuit to turn that dream into a reality and sell it to them.
We have all dreamed of doing something great or grandiose, even bigger than life; but usually somewhere along the way someone or something happened that made you think that dream was unattainable. When you were a child you never said, "I want to make $100,000 a year." You said, "I want to be the richest man in the world." Along the way you compromised and decided that you just needed to get to a respectable tax bracket. I beg you, even plead with you to recall those childhood dreams that for so long you thought were unrealistic.
After you remember that dream and take ownership of it, I then ask you to then sell it to whoever will listen, whoever will help facilitate it, whoever you come in contact with. And I realize at this point you may be perplexed and utterly confused about what the hell I'm asking you to do. What I have come to realie is "that all we have is us," and "no man is an island." In layman's terms, we all need each other and to make those aforementioned dreams a reality, you must sell them to others and turn them into full fledged believers, card carrying Kool Aid drinking members.
Everyone who has ever done anything great, or of any magnitude sold their dream to others. Without this act you are dead because a man who has nothing to look forward to has nothing to live for. What do Jesus, Ghandi, Martin Luther, Bill Gates, Oprah, Cornell Sanders and the list go on and on have in common? They all started with a dream, that may have seemed a bit overly ambitious to everyone else, and they all sold that dream to start a movement and turn their belief structure into a reality. It is time to become better salesman.
So your mission today is to:
1. Remember and take ownership of those dreams that you forgot about from childhood.
2. Figure out who can help in your pursuit to turn that dream into a reality and sell it to them.
Just My Thoughts
Just My Thoughts
America needs to get off the pacifier. We have been pampered and babied for so long, we don't realize what we have here in opportunities and possibilities. We have created a generation that believes every one deserves a medal. Everybody is a winner. And the government, credit repair specialists, Betty Ford, your parents and everyone else for that matter are here to fix your problems when you mess up.
We have a bail out generation that wants handouts, welfare, tax cuts, universal health care and help paying their over-priced mortgages, but no one wants to pay for it. As sad as it may seem, everybody can't own a home and everybody is not a winner. It sucks sometimes, but it is true. And while everyone screams about universal health care, I don't hear to many volunteering to be the first in line to help foot the bill so that the single mother doesn't have to uses the ER as her kid's general practitioner.
This economic meltdown may very well have been what the doctor ordered. Since 1982, we have experienced some of the greatest economic prosperity that the world has ever seen. We have a ME ME ME, NOW NOW NOW attitude that puts no value on the ability to delay gratification or a desire to conserve. While there is a pill for every problem; somewhere along the line we lost our way, our ability to deal with problems and put more value in things than we each other. We have leveraged our future by gambling with what we speculated we would have left over after we spent most of what we made today.
I don't have all the answers, but if someone yells at the top of their lungs, "your basement is flooded, your toilets are overflowing and their are rats in your living room," maybe someone will realize that we have problems and need take a serious look at ourselves.
America needs to get off the pacifier. We have been pampered and babied for so long, we don't realize what we have here in opportunities and possibilities. We have created a generation that believes every one deserves a medal. Everybody is a winner. And the government, credit repair specialists, Betty Ford, your parents and everyone else for that matter are here to fix your problems when you mess up.
We have a bail out generation that wants handouts, welfare, tax cuts, universal health care and help paying their over-priced mortgages, but no one wants to pay for it. As sad as it may seem, everybody can't own a home and everybody is not a winner. It sucks sometimes, but it is true. And while everyone screams about universal health care, I don't hear to many volunteering to be the first in line to help foot the bill so that the single mother doesn't have to uses the ER as her kid's general practitioner.
This economic meltdown may very well have been what the doctor ordered. Since 1982, we have experienced some of the greatest economic prosperity that the world has ever seen. We have a ME ME ME, NOW NOW NOW attitude that puts no value on the ability to delay gratification or a desire to conserve. While there is a pill for every problem; somewhere along the line we lost our way, our ability to deal with problems and put more value in things than we each other. We have leveraged our future by gambling with what we speculated we would have left over after we spent most of what we made today.
I don't have all the answers, but if someone yells at the top of their lungs, "your basement is flooded, your toilets are overflowing and their are rats in your living room," maybe someone will realize that we have problems and need take a serious look at ourselves.
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